You Can Only Blast Off So Many Times
by Jasmine-Lotus
Summary: With the constant loss, Team Rocket tries one more time with the same result. The endless monotony over catching Pikachu grows too much to bear for Jessie that she looses her sense of objective.


Another defeat...

Jessie sat under a tree with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped her legs. She held a blank and distant stare out to the beautiful star filled the moonlit sky. Save for the grasshoppers, soft winds and the very faint hisses of pain from Meowth as he was being bandaged by James several feet away from Jessie, everything was quiet except. Team Rocket had experienced another embarrassing loss via Ash and Pikachu and had been sent off through the skies once again. They had landed (painfully mind you) in the middle of a thick unknown forest that was barren to any Pokemon. Their way of transportation, being the Meowth hot air balloon, had been destroyed and large chunks of whatever's left were scattered around the tree.

The team's physical conditions weren't superb, the team's clothes were scorched along with Meowth's fur, The red head's once gravity defying hair was now limp and messy due to the humid air of the forest, James had a sprained ankle afterwards landing on it from the fall and Meowth had stitches on his back after receiving a gash from one of Bayleaf's razor leaves. With all of them having bandages over their new wounds, it was a surprise that none of them were fatal. That Pikachu never held back with his thunderbolt and every time he used it, every time Team Rocket suffered its wrath, it felt as if they were lit on fire. Jessie can remember the haunting screams her Meowth and James emitted the countless times when they were struck by that damn lightning. It was never any less painful.

For hours, not one of them said a single word to lighten up the somber mood, not even Wobbufet with his annoying but cheerful gestures came out to agitate the team, the one time they needed it most. James had finished bandaging Meowth and dragged himself next to Jessie with the little cat in his lap. The redhead remained still but finally removed her gaze from the sky to the ground.

"What should we do about the balloon this time?" James quietly mumbled, his voice was quite hoarse.

For the time being, Jessie's silence ended when coming up with an answer, she looked at Meowth nestled in James' lap slowly drifting to sleep.

"We'll leave it here for tonight, Meowth can fix it tomorrow." Jessie's voice was fairly quiet. "Let's just get a little sleep." James nodded as Jessie stretched out her body and gently rested on the grass. James was a lot more careful moving his body into sleeping position as to not wake the sleeping Meowth or irritate his sprained ankle.

Sleeping would've been much easier if their bodies weren't aching in pain. James fell asleep first while Jessie was still wide awake thinking. She thought about her mother and how she became missing after leaving on a mission. Even though she never talked or even thought about it too much, Jessie thought of the possibility that her mother may never be found or maybe even-

The redhead shook her head vigorously and sighed.

She looked over to James sleeping on his back with Meowth snoozing on the blue haired boy's stomach.

Those two goofballs...

Jessie smiled faintly and lied her head down on the grass and waited for sleep to take her.

The Next Day

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" A bright fluorescent white light emitted on yellow mouse's tail as he charged at the opposing Pokemon. He jumped into the air and swung his glowing tail at the opponent.

"Dodge it!" The other Pokemon avoided the attack, only missing his tail by a hair.

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" A female's voice commanded, The Purple Pokemon created a large ball of deep purple and shot it at lightning speed toward Pikachu.

"Dodge it, Pikachu, then use Quick Attack!" The opponent's Shadow Ball passed Pikachu with ease and the yellow mouse Pokemon wasted no time charging at the towering Gengar. A critical hit launching the purple Pokemon slamming him roughly at a tree. His body slid down the solid wood onto the rough grass with a loud scraping sound and leaving an impression on the tree.

"Gengar, you can do it!" At the sound of his trainer's voice, as he struggled to his feet, still having a touch of energy left in him.

"Now, Pikachu, finish him off with Thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it, Gengar!" Unfortunately, for our female trainer, The Pokemon was too injured to follow the command he was given and a bright yellow beam of lightning consumed him. His body jolted violently along with the quick movement of the electricity. As it dissipated, the purple Pokemon fell on his face.

"Oh no!" Without hesitation, the female trainer ran toward her Pokemon. She was an averaged height, black-haired, dark-skinned girl with brown eyes dressed in blue and white and had a sweet soft- spoken voice. She ran toward her Gengar and kneeled down to his level. She immediately saw the swollen redness in between the spikes on his back. The female trainer gently rolled her Gengar on his back and saw that his piercing red eyes now resembled squiggly marks.

"Gengar can't continue fighting!" The rock trainer Brock called out holding up one hand in the air signaling the end of the match.

"We did it!" Ash jumped in joy, Pikachu ran to the arms of his trainer and they both celebrated.

"Way to go, Ash!" The water trainer Misty cheered with the Togepi in her arms.

As the three trainers celebrated Ash's victory, the female tended to her Gengar.

"It's alright Gengar, you were awesome." She whispered gently while tenderly rubbing him on his belly. She then returned her Pokemon to his ball.

"You did awesome, Jaz", Ash congratulated.

"I guess," the girl sighed.

"You and Gengar seem close," Misty commented.

"Togepi!"

"Uh huh," When I travel, I often let him out of his ball so we can walk together! Sometimes, he'll find candy!"

"Candy?"

"Pika?"

"Every Pokemon has their own candy. When trainers take walks with their Pokemon, they find candy depending on the type of Pokemon that travel. You can use the candy to power up Pokemon or even evolve them."

"No doubt, that's right, the girl said confirming Brock's explanation."

"Hahaha..." Brock couldn't help blushing and scratched the back of his head as his knowledge was confirmed about Pokemon Candy.

"We gotta get candy later, Pikachu."

"Pika!"

As the trainers conversed and socialized, little did they know that were being watcheded by a certain team we all know well.

"That Gengar sure is powerful, fighting against the likes of Pikachu," commented Jessie. Team Rocket was hiding behind large trees while staring at the Pokeball In Jaz's hand. Their conditions were lots better than the night before, some of their older wounds had healed and most of the aches and pains had left their bodies.

"With power like that, catching Pikachu will be easy as pie," chimed in James who hid behind the same tree.

"So how do you suppose we take it," Meowth asked.

"I have idea. We sneak attack them!" Jessie and James took out their Pokeballs as the team giggled darkly.

"So, Jaz, you plan to start your own gym?" Misty asked.

"Oh, yeah, I plan on having a gym for Ghost Pokemon!"

"That's great! I plan on starting a gym for Rock Type Pokemon! We have so much in common!" Brock wasted no time taking Jaz's hand and standing on one knee as if proposing, while Misty and Ash face palmed over their friends exaggerated actions of infatuation.

"U-uh w-well I-"

Weezing, use smoke screen!" A sickly green sheet of smoke covered our trainers and with little time to avoid it, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Jaz felt the thick gas enter their lungs. The nasty smell combined with the potency of the smoke burned their throats and eyes causing the trainers to erupt in harsh fits of coughing.

"What's going on!?" Jaz shouted, she tried to open her eyes to find the source of the smoke, but the burning of Weezing's smoke prevented her from doing so.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

Jessie and James jumped out of their hiding spots with their Pokemon ready.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend the reach to the stars above!"

"Jesse!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepared to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"T-team...*cought* Rocket!? Ash called out the culprits, alerting the others.

"Correct!" Jessie confirmed.

"You...*cough* know those guys?!" Without warning, A metal robotic arm had extended through the smoke, grabbed Jaz's Pokeball with her Gengar in it and retracted back to Team Rocket.

"H-hey!"

The trainers scattered from the smoke screen and they were able to see the perpetrators in clear vision. Team Rocket entered Jaz's line of vision with James carrying holding her Pokeball with the robotic arm that connected from the repaired Meowth balloon.

"Hey! That's my Gengar!" She screamed, the girl's voice was slightly hoarse from the smoke screen.

"Not anymore!" James taunted. "He belongs to us now!"

"And while we're at it, let's have Pikachu!" At Jessie's command, another metallic arm came from the repaired Meowth Balloon and extended toward Pikachu at lightning speed. The hand firmly gripped him and quickly brought them back to Team Rocket.

"Pikaaaaa!"

"Pikachu! Give him back!" Ash screamed in fury "And give Jaz back her Gengar!"

"You're going to have to come and take them," challenged Jessie.

Both Meowth and James were confused and surprised by this statement.

"Jessie! We've got the Pokemon, let's just go!" James whispered to the redhead.

"Yeah, let's hit the hay! Meowth agreed.

"No, not yet. I want all of the twerps' Pokemon!" Jessie's voice was dripping with overconfidence, she was sure that this time Team Rocket with take home the victory.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"

At the command of his master, Pikachu attempted to escape to no avail. The metallic arms were entirely shocked proof.

Through out the entire ordeal, Jaz evaluated the situation before her. The girl's vision remained on Team Rocket, there was something odd about them.

They looked so.

Sickly.

Jessie and James were pale as ghosts and had visible bandages, their clothes were slightly burnt, Jessie's hair was messy and looked like had been done in a hurry, and James had a thick bandage around his ankle. Finally, their little Meowth had dirty fur with what looked like stitches peeking from around his back.

Something ached in Jaz's heart, she knew that something was wrong.

Ash stepped forward and took a stance against Team Rocket.

Misty followed suite and got her pokemon ready, her and Ash released their Pokemon.

"Bayleaf, I choose you!"

"Staryu, come on out!"

Both Pokemon came out at the same time waiting for their masters' commands. Jessie and James wasted no time calling out their defenses, with Jessie calling out Arbok and James staying with his Wheezing instead of bringing out his Victreebell. A hectic battle between Team Rocket and Ash and Misty commenced, with Brock and Jaz silently watching. Jaz couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with Team Rocket. Of course, she was worried about her Gengar, but his injuries were mere scratches compared to those of Jessie and the two.

It was even stranger when as and the others didn't seem to notice Team Rocket's health.

"Staryu! Use Water Gun at Arbok!"

A thick beam of water erupted from the Staryu at the behest of Misty. However, the Cobra Pokemon evaded the attack and the water had now been hurled at Jessie. The water came crashing at Jessie's exposed abdomen and on impact, a loud slap echoed through the ears of everyone present. A deafening screech of pain was heard through the forest and Jessie was thrown violently across the grassy ground while her entire body rolled.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Jaz all flinched at the sound of Jessie's scream of pain.

"O-o-oops..." Misty said nervously.

"J-jessie!" Meowth called out while running to her with James following. Arbok and Wheezing also grew concerned over Jessie's safety but didn't leave their spots as to keep an eye on Bayleaf and Staryu.

After running to Jessie's aid, James had taken his partner by the arm as she winced in pain. Doing so, he and Meowth were able to see the swollen red patch on Jesse's exposed stomach. This didn't go unnoticed by the other trainers either, they were all able to see the damage done to Jessie's abdomen.

"Hey! You idiots, watch where you aim!" Meowth hissed at the trainers.

"Serves you guys right for stealing Pikachu and Jaz's Gengar!" Ash shot back, not caring at all.

"Yeah!" Misty chimed in.

Jaz however, felt differently.

She took a glance at Brock who had his arms crossed and said not a word as he watched Team Rocket with a blank stare. Following Brock's eyes, Jaz watched as Jessie was slowly being pulled to her feet by James.

"Are you alright, Jess." The blue haired boy asked hooking his arm around her, not caring that she was soaking wet.

Jessie's only reply was a hoarse growl under her breath that only James and Meowth heard.

"Damn twerps..."

James and Meowth looked at the redhead in shock, never had she ever said something so vulgar.

Something had snapped in Jessie, the anger of having been defeated over and over and over and over and over again finally got to her. The constant blasting off through the skies combined with the pain from yesterday with today's pain, and for what?

For one little Pikachu?

What made Ash's Pikachu so special?

A question Jessie could not answer and that set her rage ablaze. She pushed James off of her and gave a command to her Arbok.

"ARBOK, WRAP AROUND THE TWERK!"

With a screech, the Cobra Pokemon slithered right passed Bayleaf and Staryu towards Ash at lightning speed. Arbok quickly coiled himself around Ash in a tight grip, the ten-year-old boy had no time to stop the snake.

"Ash!" Misty, Brock, and Jaz screamed at the same time.

"Pikaaaa!"

"Bayleeeaf!" Both Pokemon shouted as they watched their master coiled in Arbok's grip.

Arbok continued to slither around Ash tightening his grip with every second. The ten-year-old screamed in pain as he struggled to free himself.

"Jessie! What're doin!?" Meowth stood in front of Jessie.

"Teaching these twerps a lesson, now shut up and watch!"

"Stop it, right now!" Misty screamed, her voice on the verge of breaking. "Staryu! Do something!"

Staryu shot its water gun at Arbok and along with Ash were thrown across the grass and roughly landed near a tree. Arbok let go of Ash after the fall and Bayleaf used his vine whips to grab his master back to the others. The ten-year had been bruised and drenched.

"Ash! Ash! Are you okay?!" Misty quickly kneeled down to her friend, Brock and Jaz watched in concern as Misty help Ash to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." The ten-year-old says, his body frail and in immense pain.

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu called out, trying hard to shake the metallic hand off of him.

"What's wrong with you! You could've seriously hurt him!" Misty screamed in fury at Jessie.

"Too bad, Twerp. Your Pokemon are ours now." Jessie just laughed at Misty with no sympathy in her eyes. At the press of another botton, two more robotic arms grabbed Bayleaf and Staryu. James and Meowth along with Pikachu watched as Bayleaf and Staryu were pulled from the trainers.

"Staryu! Bayleaf! No!" Ash cried out. Now our trainers were powerless to stop Team Rocket now.

Unless...

"NOW, we can leave," Jessie said cockily. She turned on a heel and strode to the Meowth balloon with Arbok and Weezing following her.

Jaz grabbed Brock by his arm. "Brock, we have to do something, they're gonna take those Pokemon away!"

"I know, but what can I do?" Brock knew that if he brought out his Pokemon, he'd be severely outnumbered.

"I'll bring out Poliwhirl, Jaz, you take care of Ash." Misty stood up and took out another Poke ball.

"Are you sure you guys'll be okay?", Jaz asked with worry in her eyes.

"We'll be fine, and don't worry, we'll get you Gengar back." With a nod, Jaz took in her arms and watched as Misty and Brock took a stand.

"Hey!" Misty shouted.

Jessie turned around to face Brock."What, you still have some fight in you?"

"Forretress, come out!"

"You too, Poliwhirl! "Brock's poke ball opened up and his Pokemon came out along with Misty's Poliwhirl.

"Awww, you want me to take your Pokemon too? How sweet. Arbok, Poison Sting!" The snake shot at Brock's Forretress.

"Wheezing, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Block it, Forretress!" The rock Pokemon hid in his shell and allowed Arbok's attack to strike, doing him no harm.

"Ha! You can block all you want, but your Pokemon will be mine."

"Leave it, let's just go!" Meowth called.

"Not until this Pokemon is ours!" Jessie yelled back.

"Poliwhirl, dodge the Sludge Bomb and use Mud Shot on Arbok!"

A ball of sticky brown mud was created and launched at Arbok, stopping the cobra from his attack on Forretress. The Cobra Pokemon fell on its back and slid on the grass.

Arbok, get up!" Jessie demanded.

"Wheezing, use Sludge Bomb again !" Weezing created another sickly, inky green ball and threw it at Poliwirl.

"Dodge it Poliwirl! Then use Scald!"

The Sludge Bomb was easily dodged and Wheezing was attacked by a splash of boiling hot.

"Forretress, use Tackle." Now it was Brock's turn to fight, his Forretress quickly slammed his body against Arbok and the Cobra Pokemon was thrown against a tree.

As the battle commenced, the tides were turning against Team Rocket as their Pokemon were slowly becoming weaker to Misty and Brock's Pokemon. This of course, was noticed by Jessie, and in a last ditch effort, she returned her Arbok to her poke ball.

"Come on, we're leaving!" She sprinted to the Meowth balloon with James and Meowth in tow, and the balloon took off with three of the Pokemon.

"Pikkaaaa!" Pikachu cried out to our trainers as the balloon floated away.

"Oh, no you don't! Poliwirl Bubble Beam!" Poliwirl shot his bubble beam at the Meowth Ballon, piercing right through the balloon and it came tumbling back down to the ground.

"Now Forretress, use Heavy Slam to free the others!" Forretress floated in the air and slammed his body on the Meowth Ballon causing an explosion of dust. The three trainers watched in silence as the dust disappeared.

Just then Pikachu, Bayleaf, and Forretress left the smoke and ran towards their masters.

"Pikachu! Bayleaf!" Ash released himself from Jaz's grip and keeled down to hug his now free pokemon.

"Nice job, Forretress," Brock says patting his pokemon on the head.

"You did awesome too, Poliwhirl," Misty hugged her pokemon.

"Pika Pika!"

Pikachu muffled voice grabbed the trainers' attention and the immediately noticed the pokeball in his mouth.

"I think this belongs to you," Ash took the ball from Pikahu's mouth and gave it to Jaz.

"Thank you, Ash, thank you all for rescuing my Gengar."

"No problem, that's what friends do," Misty chimed in.

The trainers then shifted their attention to grunts of pain and anger from Jessie coming from the Meowth Balloon. The red head and the others were in the once again destroyed balloon. The trainers (except for Jaz) once again took a stance ready for another fight.

"G-give me back my Pokemon!" Jessie yelled as she struggled to stand, her face and outfit were covered in dirt and had new scratches on her.

"They're not yours," Ash shot back leaning on Jaz for support. "You'll pay, Team Rocket! Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"

Oh, no.

Not again.

The very familiar flash of golden yellow struck Team Rocket scorching their bodies once more. They scream in pain and jolt furiously until an explosion ended the ordeal and Team Rocket was launched in the air disapereing into the sky.

As the sun. began to set, our trainers walked to the entrance of a small town.

"I guess this is where we split", Jaz says as she faces the others with her Gengar by her side. "It was fun meeting you all."

"It was cool meeting you too, Jaz", Misty replies.

"Good luck on becoming a gym leader", Ash reached out to shake the girl's hand, but he was shoved out of the way by Brock. Jaz' hands were grabbed the rock trainer.

"It was awesome meeting you too, Jaz, I hope we'll meet again someday!" The rock Pokemon trainer quickly said.

"Ah..me too," the girl finally says. She gently releases her hands from Brock's grip and turns to leave.

"Bye Jaz!" Misty and the trainers wave as the girl and her Gengar walk off in the sunset.

Jessie sat under a tree with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped her legs. She held a blank and distant stare out to the beautiful star filled the moonlit sky.

Another defeat...

Another fall...

More pain...

All because of.

One.

Stupid.

Kid.

The rage Jessie was feeling was bigger than anyone could've comprehended, she was so close to winning and she got greedy.

That twerp and his friends got the better of her.

AGAIN.

It stopped being about capturing Pikachu, Jessie wanted the Pokemon and the satisfaction of beating Ash.

That in itself is greedy.

Jessie had to start off small.

She needed to destroy of Ash.

The twerp that always got in her way.

Her main target.

The redhead laughed to herself, in order to get to the Pokemon, she had to rid of Ash.

This time she won't fail.

You could only blast off so many times.

Before you snap.

A/N: Hello again everyone. Sorry if the second part of the story felt rushed, I just wanted to get this story done.

This is just a story I made months ago and I finally got off my lazy butt and finished it. I got the idea after watching, I think the Joto League. Anyway, I came up with this concept of an abused Team Rocket and none of the trainers noticing or even caring.

I hope you all like it, and don't mind the language!


End file.
